Ylluria

Having the same issue, Qorvex losing stacks randomly to nothing, from the start of missions. Happens in RJ missions and standard missions so far that I've noticed.

I thought I read somewhere that Primes were basically the elite guard of the warframes so to speak, sort of a 'hey, this warframe did well so it gets gold armor to show off'. Any warframes getting 'Primed' after the fall of the empire would basically be the Tenno going 'hey, this frame has achieved elite status' and slapping on the upgrades to it. Easier to think of that way anyhow as it fixes any weird issues w/ Primes being the 'originals' and frames from newer points in the timeline. Went to check and Varzia says, "Some Warframes were Primed from the start. Others earned it. Ballas never told the whole truth." So this seems to follow that the Orokin probably wanted certain frames to already be 'elite' by their standards, maybe for marketing purposes or propaganda, and others getting Primed probably in ceremonies (they sure seem to love their ceremonies).

This sounds like a fair compromise if they think balance is somehow an issue there.

As one of those super casual 'forever newbie' players, I personally do not want the shards removed. I do not engage in endgame content, hard modes or other similar activities. Never done arbitrations, steel path, archon hunts and just finally about a month ago was able to feel like I could safely clear over lvl 60 content - IE Zariman or Sanctum missions, without Ivara cheese, Rhino or some other tanky warframe. Players who just like to relax and play warframe probably don't like the Kahl mission grind, but it was nice to have it there when you felt like it, earning shards that you cannot get any other way over a long period of time. At least we were able to engage in the system a little bit. I only just grabbed my second shard and still have not farmed enough stock for the other rewards. Granted I can now run the Cavia bounties for rep but not only is that as some others have mentioned, longer and potentially more tedious than Kahl due to Voca, but not everyone may be ready to farm it. Lower MR players who just made it through TNW/Veilbreaker can at least run Kahl missions with no gear requirements.